'Daredevil' Showrunner Reveals How Fox's X-Men Rights Changed Bullseye's Origin

The new season of Daredevil introduces a classic villain from the pages of Marvel Comics, though it also serves as an origin story for Bullseye that fans have yet to see.

But this version of Bullseye is very different from the source material. For instance, in the comics, the villain's spine is enhanced with adamantium, the fictional metal commonly associated with Wolverine. But because that's a term closely associated with the X-Men, Marvel Television is not allowed to use that term on the Netflix shows or elsewhere.

ComicBook.com spoke with Daredevil showrunner Erik Oleson, who addressed some of the changes they had to make for the show and why they decided to tell an origin story for disgraced FBI agent Benjamin Poindexter, AKA Bullseye.

"Well, you've seen the season now, and he is not yet fully Bullseye. Like he doesn't have his- I'm not even allowed to use the word 'adamantium' because Marvel and Fox and Disney haven't merged yet," Oleson said. "But in the comics, obviously, Bullseye, he's got abilities that are heightened, and I was more interested in telling the grounded psychological story of how a real person becomes Bullseye, because that fit in with not just the tone and style that I wanted to use for Season 3, which was somewhere between Season 1 of the show and The Sopranos, but it allows me to just keep the show grounded."

Though Fox's ownership of the X-Men franchise prevented the term "adamantium" being used, Daredevil does put its own twist on this particular chapter in Bullseye's comic book history.

In the comics, Bullseye gets operated on by a character named Lord Dark Wind, who repairs his spine and fuses it with adamantium.

Warning: We're starting to veer into spoiler territory for Daredevil Season 3...

In the show's end, Poindexter is receiving a surgical procedure to repair his own spinal damage, and one of the operating doctors refers to something called "Cogmium steel." Even more intriguing is the fact that the surgeon in charge is named Dr. Oyama.

Why is that interesting? Because Lord Dark Wind's real name is Kenji Oyama, and is the father of popular X-Men villain Lady Deathstrike in the comics. So Daredevil really did some heavy lifting to set up Bullseye's superhero origin.

But Oleson added that there was never a version of the show Bullseye would appear in his own costume in these episodes.

"The costume was never a possibility for this season," he said. "He is dressed as fake Daredevil, and I didn't want it to become the show of rotating superhero costumes. For me, they can be a real distraction from the story."

Fans can see the origin of Bullseye in the third season of Daredevil, now streaming on Netflix.